I’ve been getting some questions recently about using retractables permanently. While this isn’t the most ideal situation, mainly because of the cost of retractables, it’s still required from time to time. If you’re in this category, there are three things you’ll want to pay attention to…

1. Lifeline Material – If you’re using a self-retracting lifeline for some sort of permanent use, you’ll want to make sure you’re using a stainless steel lifeline. This the best defense against the elements and resists rust. You’ll definitely want to stay away from a web retractable. Here are some stainless steel retractables.

2. Housing – In a situation like this, you’ll want to look for durable housing. Making sure the outside is constructed of stainless steel or extremely durable plastic, such as the Miller Falcon.

3. Inspection – If you’re using a retractable in a permanent situation, you want to be extra diligent with inspections. Always make sure your retractable is working properly. Retractables exposed to the elements face far more dangers than a retractable stashed in the back seat of a pickup.

Make sure you keep these things in mind if plan on using your yo-yo in a permanent setup. If you have any questions or concerns about your equipment, let us know.

1. Top 10 Fall Protection Retractable Lanyards
2. Retractable Re-Certification

Every month it seems that retractable lifelines become more and more popular. Hell, they’ve got about fifteen thousand nicknames… retractables, srl’s , yo-yos, blocks, man leashes… I made the last one up. Sorry. However, as retractables become more popular in the marketplace, workers pay less attention to the compliance demands of this equipment.

Back in the day, every retractable known to man needed to be inspected by fall protection manufacturers once a year for re-certification. Primarily, to be a pain in your ass. Just kidding. The real reason was to inspect the complex inner gears of a retractable to make sure everything was working properly. Mainly because moving parts and construction have had their differences over the years.

As time passed, companies were able to provide retractables for fall protection that didn’t require re-certification. They didn’t need to be inspected every year, or two years for that matter. You only needed to worry about them if they were involved in a fall.

The confusing part for you is that all retractables are different. Some retractables no longer need to be re-certified, while other still do. It is up to you to read your instruction manuals or contact us to know if your retractables need to be re-certified by the manufacturer.

So check it out your retractables if you have them, and make sure you’re on the up and up. Another quick point, if your yo-yo is involved in a fall, repairing it is going to be cheaper than buying a new one. Save some money.

1. Top 5 Reasons to Use a Retractable
2. Using A Retractable Lifeline Permanently?
3. Top 10 Fall Protection Retractable Lanyards

Great title eh? Today I’d like to share a feature that can be found some harnesses, but you may not know what the heck they are. Throughout our store I throw out the term lanyard keepers, and although I do my best to explain it I thought I’d share a little more.

Lanyard keepers are usually found on a harness near the chest straps. In fact, there is usually one on both sides of your harness. They often look little d-rings or clips. (These are not shoulder d-rings. Those are located on your shoulders. duh.) Lanyard keepers “keep” your lanyards out of the way when you’re not using them.

Imagine, you’re taking your lunch, so you unhook your lanyard from the anchor and go get your lunch box. Take the the snap hook you just released from your anchor point and attach it to the lanyard keeper. This way it’s not dragging behind you getting damaged or creating a trip hazard. Sweet huh?

Some lanyard keepers are break way, so in case you accidentally stepped on your lanyard, you wouldn’t trip over it. And! They also work very well with dual leg lanyards (100% tie off). You can keep the lanyard you aren’t using attached to the keeper and work away.

Hopefully, we’ve supplied you with a little more information on this little gadget. If this seems like something you’d like on your next harness be on the lookout for it. Or give us a call and we can point you in the right direction.

1. Lord of D-Rings in Fall Protection
2. Alarming Miller Fall Protection Study
3. Medal Winning Harnesses

The bucket of safety is a very popular item, therefore it comes with its fair share of questions from our online visitors. A lot of the questions, we’re asked have to do with the included vertical lifeline system.  Here are few quick answer on some of the most popular questions…

My roof is only 30′, if I use a 50′ lifeline won’t I fall off?
Nope.  With a vertical lifeline system you have a rope grab which keeps you from falling down the rest of the rope. It’s almost like your own moveable anchor along the rope. So if you lock it in at 15′, and you fall, you’ll be tied off at the 15′ mark.

What’s that other lanyard piece hanging off there?
That is an 18″ extension lanyard. That is the piece that attaches directly to your harness. The extension lanyard allows you to keep your rope grab right by your side for easy use. Otherwise it would be higher up on your back.  You’d look like an idiot trying to adjust the rope grab.

Do these things have shock absorbers?
Some of them do, some of them do not. Good answer huh?   This is pretty important feature on lifeline assemblies. The ones in the bucket of safety do.  If you’re unsure, please make sure you ask.

If you’ve got any other questions, let me know and we’ll see what we can do to answer them. Heck, leave your questions in the comments.

Today is tax day… Son of a… Mailed! Anywho, it it’s tax day. I wanted to take the time to make a brief announcement about fall protection and money.

Now, am I a certified public accountant? No. But I do know that legal fees, OSHA fines, and worker’s comp cost money. In most cases, way more than the original equipment would have cost. Am I telling you this as a seller of fall protection equipment? No. I’m speaking with you as a fellow business owner.

I wouldn’t want your business to fail because you chose not buy a couple of buckets of safety for your crew. Actually, I don’t even care so much about you, but more for the people who work for you. If you go under, they lose there jobs. Sure, the economy sucks and you’re not making as much money, but cutting corners doesn’t pay.

Just imagine what your accountant would say if you brought him a $15K fine to buff out of your return?

1. December OSHA Fines
2. Preliminary OSHA Findings – 2009 Violations
3. OSHA Throws In The Towel

This post is all your fault. Primarily, because it’s blame someone else day. I’m blaming you. Unfortunately, when it comes to fall protection or the lack there of, it seems like the blame game is a year long occurrence.

When accidents occur it’s easy to point the finger, but in most cases there isn’t a “single” person to blame. Sure, a company refuses to buy fall protection for it’s employees, but that doesn’t mean you HAVE to do the dangerous jobs either. If you refuse to fight for your safety, and you go to work anyway… I hate to say it, but you’re partly to blame.

Now I don’t want to get into a he said, she said argument (There were enough of those in high school), but the fact of the matter is that we all need to work together to keep our jobs safe from falls. We need internal accountability. What did Smokey the Bear say? Only you can prevent the spread of genital…. Wrong pamphlet… Only you (and those around you) can prevent falls on the job site.

For those of you steel erectors out there… This month is National Welding Month. So feel free to weld anything in the world you’d like. Weld away. But for those of you that don’t know, the fall protection industry pays special attention to the welders out there in the work force. For example…

Anchors
All major manufacturers produce some sort of beam anchor. Some of them slide across the beam, while others are bolted on, and some can even be welded on.

Lanyards
We offer several Kevlar and Nomex lanyards that are ideal for welders. They are extremely durable. You may even want to consider a cable lanyard that won’t be as susceptible to melting.

Harnesses
Not only do manufacturers make flame resistant harnesses, they’ve also constructed harnesses out of Kevlar and Nomex as well. Super durable harnesses for extremely destructive work. Say that three times fast.

Look, if you’re a welder, we can take care of you. Just let us know what you need and we will find you a safe solution.

You always read about near misses on other job sites, but it seems nothing happens on yours. Well, just a short story to let you know that without the proper procedures and two safety professionals involved there would have been another fall fatality.

Prior to the near miss incident, I had a meeting with the safety coordinator of the steel company and her foreman that was going to do the work at my job site. They were going to cut some decking and install steel tube for support and re-deck the roof. We surveyed the area on the roof where the work was to be done and decided that a static line rated for 5,000 pounds could be installed near where the decking was to be removed. There would only be one person cutting the decking and so there would be no need to add additional strength to the line to support more than one worker.

The static line was installed the next day and was checked for the proper tie back and use of cable clamps. The static line was now ready to be used as the anchor for the personal fall arrest system the worker would be wearing.

On February 18, 2010 work was proceeding on the deck and also under the deck. The three employees of the steel company had checked their PFAS prior to starting work and all was in good order. If you can imagine the Chevrolet “Bowtie” emblem then you know how the deck was to be cut. All was going smoothly. The middle of the “Bowtie” had been removed leaving the two small pieces of deck to be cut. About 11AM the employee cut two sides of the remaining small piece of deck and left it attached to the man deck area. He then started to roll up the cord of his grinder to finish the cut and stepped on the small area that he had cut.

The deck immediately gave way because it was only supported on the one end. The employee was attached to the static line and fell about 5’ and almost into the scissor lift that another steel worker was using below him. The reason for the short fall was that his lanyard was caught between the rough edge of the cut and the remaining deck. There was a minor abrasion of the lanyard but that was all.

The employee operating the scissor lift only had to raise the lift up about 12” to “rescue” the worker that had fallen through the unsupported part to the “Bowtie.” Their fall protection plan covered this type of rescue in the appendix of the site specific fall protection plan for the jobsite.

Knowing that in 2008 we killed about 2000 workers from falls in the construction industry, I am glad to tell you that if employees are trained and the equipment is installed under the supervision of a competent person and above all if the equipment is used then good things happen. In this case, the gentleman was able to go home to his family later in the day with only an abrasion on his arm and leg that was caused by the rough edges of the decking.

Incidents like this make a believer out of me when it comes to fall protection. It doesn’t pay to take a short cut with anyone’s life. Sure equipment costs money and in this case the entire system including the static line was replaced but the man went home which should be the goal of anyone connected with construction and safety.

1. Washington and Safety

In honor of Jeopardy’s television debut. I thought I’d add a couple of fall protection trivia questions below. It’s always a good idea to have a little refresher course. If you don’t know the answer to these questions please contact us, and we’ll help you learn what you need to know. Also, no need to answer in the form of a question (That’s just crazy)

1. At what height is fall protection required?

2. Body belts are perfectly acceptable for fall arrest? (True / False )

3. How many pounds per worker must an anchor point be capable of supporting?

4. What are the 3 components that make up a personal fall arrest system?

5. How often should you inspect your equipment?

Answers:
1.) 6 ft 2.) False 3.)5,000 lbs. 4.) Anchor point, Connector, Harness 5.) Before each use.

How many days in your life have you had a near miss? More than you’d like to admit, I’m sure. Heck, sometimes it isn’t even your fault.

A near miss… It’s an interesting concept. For example, fall prevention is in the miss elimination business. Fall protection is in the near miss business.

The idea behind fall prevention is to eliminate the possibility of a fall. Guardrails, and passive systems keep you away from edges where falls may occur. In a way they destroy misses. It’s the preferred way to address dangerous falls, but it doesn’t seem to be the most popular.

Do people really like a near miss? Because that’s exactly what fall protection equipment provides. A near miss. With fall protection, you fall. For a moment, you’re going to die… SNAP you’re snatched from the air and you float aimlessly. A near miss.

There’s a lot of things that have to go right in order to have a near miss. One mistake and you could be dead. That can be a little too close for comfort.

Luckily there are things you can do to make sure all of your fall’s remain near misses.

- Inspect your gear
- Know how to use your gear
- Watch what you’re doing
- Eliminate the fall if you can

1. Fall Protection vs. Fall Prevention
2. Fall Protection Applications